Author Christopher Horner joined the Bloggers Briefing this week to discuss his new book, The Liberal War on Transparency, and how citizen journalists can use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to hold the government accountable.

“You’ve got Issa oversight, and you’ve got you oversight—FOIA and state open records laws,” said Horner, referring to Representative Darrell Issa (R–CA), chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

Revelations in Horner’s book of secret “alias” email accounts used by former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson may have ushered her more quickly out the door, he claimed.

Horner’s FOIA requests were able to discover that Jackson’s “alias” emails—in particular the one named “Richard Windsor”—came as a result of the creation of a false identity under that name in order to create the fake email accounts. Horner described the reliance on such misdirection in the current Administration as “promiscuous” and “symptomatic of an epidemic” throughout government.

“This is how they roll,” Horner said. He detailed the revelation of secret computers and document destruction in addition to the secret email accounts.